The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

Plastic, Insects, Salmon and Climate Change: The 13 Best Environmental Books of July

Summer is officially upon us, which means it's time to pick the season's best beach reads. And there's no rule that says beach reads have to be frothy and lightweight. Why not choose compelling and informative instead? We've picked the best new environmentally themed books coming out this July, with titles covering everything from insects and salmon to climate change and plastic pollution. There are even a few eco-poetry collections for those of you who'd like a little art with your inspiration.

Our full list — an amazing 13 titles — appears below. Links are to publishers' websites, but you can also buy many of these titles at your favorite bookstore. We hope you find one near a beach.

Wildlife & Conservation:

Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson — An ecologist provides an entertaining look at "the little creatures that make the world go round," something that's severely needed in this era of worryingly dangerous insect declines.

Humans and Lions: Conflict, Conservation and Coexistence by Keith Somerville — Cecil the lion wasn't an isolated occurrence. Humans and lions have been living together (and clashing) for millennia, and the existence of these two species will forever be intertwined — unless lions get crowded off the planet. Somerville looks at history and the state of Africa today to explore how they can be saved from extinction.

Poisonous Skies: Acid Rain and the Globalization of Pollution by Rachel Emma Rothschild — You know, it almost feels quaint to be talking about acid rain these days, but sometimes you need to pay attention to history in order to better understand the present. Rothschild looks at the history of acid rain to explore what happened, how countries fought about it, how scientists led the charge against it, and how all of that offers lessons for the modern world of climate change. Essential reading, and not quaint at all.

That's our list for this month, but if you need more, check out dozens of other recent eco-books in the "Revelator Reads" archive.

John R. Platt is the editor of The Revelator. An award-winning environmental journalist, his work has appeared in Scientific American, Audubon, Motherboard, and numerous other magazines and publications.

An image of the trans-alaskan oil pipeline that carries oil from the northern part of Alaska all the way to valdez. This shot is right near the arctic national wildlife refuge. kyletperry / iStock / Getty Images Plus

The Trump administration has initialized the final steps to open up nearly 1.6 million acres of the protected Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to allow oil and gas drilling.

A Florida man has been allowed to import a Tanzanian lion's skin, skull, claws and teeth, a first since the animal was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to US Fish and Wildlife Service records uncovered by the Center for Biological Diversity through the Freedom of Information Act.

A fracked natural gas well in northwest Louisiana has been burning for two weeks after suffering a blowout. A state official said the fire will likely burn for the next month before the flames can be brought under control by drilling a relief well.